5 Months and Seattle!

So, our little guy is now officially 5 months... crazy.. absolutely crazy! I weighed him again at Kroger, and he is now 14 pounds - so double his birth weight at 5 months. I absolutely love this stage he is in. He is so excited and interested in the world around him. He loves solids, and now recognizes his bottle. As soon as he sees it his hands and feet begin to wiggle and his eyes get really big. He tries to hold the bottle, and usually pushes it down :) We noticed in Seattle that he especially loved red plastic cups and plates. He is hilarious. He tries to put whatever is of interest to him completely in his mouth. All I have to do is hold something where he can see it and his arms lift and he is immediately lured into getting the object. The problem, other than the size of the item, is that he still tries to bring his body to the object, rather than the object to his body.

Ezzie also is sucking his thumb again. He sucked his thumb in the womb, and now he is beginning to do it outside of the womb for the first time! It is fun to watch him suck and chew on this new-re-found discovery :) His hand coordination is improving with leaps and bounds, and he even can pass an object from one hand to the other!

Ezzie is also sitting up better and better and just wants to go. However, he really only can scoot himself around on his back - we wake up in the morning to find his fully rotated and on the other side of the crib... he only does this when we aren't watching :) And, speaking of sleep, Ezzie gave me the best Mother's Day gift - he slept for 11 hours straight without a peep. Sleep is something so amazing! I am not quite used to it yet - I tend to still wake up randomly in the night - as does Ezzie sometimes. It helps me to have patience with him in the middle of the night when I also struggle with getting out of the "waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night" sleep pattern.

Four Generations

So, you noticed Seattle in the headlines. We went to Seattle to visit Grandpa (or Great-Grandpa for Ezzie) Karl. He is the person who Ezzie's middle name comes from. We visited with Jon's parents, sister and brother-in-law. It was so much fun to see family, and Ezzie loved the extra attention. We also got to visit with Jon's friend Matt Knepper and his wife Amber. I was especially excited to meet Amber, as I had not met her before. We spent a lot of the time just hanging out, playing Wii, and going to Pike Market (where I got a drink and pic at the original Starbucks :)). The highlight of the trip for Ezzie was meeting his great-grandpa Karl Weber at the Weber reunion. Grandpa Karl was smitten with Ezzie, and Ezzie loved sitting on his lap. We are so glad we made the trip and got to visit with him... he is 96.5 and such a wonderful man.

This visit makes me think of my own grandpa Calvert and how much I wanted him to meet Ezzie, and to have Ezzie know him. My grandpa was such a loving, fun and gentle man. I miss him a lot, and hope that I can pass on some of the things I learned from my grandpa to Ezzie and any other future children we have.

Down

I knew that women often find themselves in emotional slumps after giving birth. I had moments of feeling down, but worked really hard to try to balance taking care of Ezzie and taking time for myself. However, I hit a patch about a month ago where I began feeling terrible and had daily bouts of crying. I was riding the fence between having baby blues and having postpartum depression. I am not sure about you all, but the thought of me getting it seemed impossible. Through a lot of support from Jon and friends, through talking with my nurse, and through not trying to do so much in the day, I have been able to really appreciate life and enjoy it more again.

The biggest challenge for me is to rest. I have this belief that I need to fulfill my checklist (which I tend to make very long) in order to be a good mom and wife. This isn't true - but as a mother who is staying home and not going back to working full-time, it is easy to buy into this belief. I have been meaning to write about this for a while, but just made the time. I just want to say thank you for supporting and encouraging me as I weather being a mom and figuring this all out. Without Jon, I am not sure I would have gotten through some of this - he is my best friend, and is so amazing in his love for me. I thank God each day for going beyond what I asked for in prayer, and giving me Jon.

Little things

We may not have a lot in terms of money, achievement, and objects, but we have so much when it comes to the quality of our relationships, our faith, and our joy even through the toughest of times. Sometimes it is really easy to look at what other people have, and wish we could afford more. This has really been a struggle for me, especially, with the arrival of Ezzie and the realization of the dream I had not even identified in having our own home at this point and a bedroom specifically set apart for our little one. At this point in time we are renting a little home, and Ezzie's room is shared with our office. But... I have been picking out the little things over the past month and mentally making a note to write about the things that have blessed us so much, even though they aren't what everyone else might see as meaningful. First off, we are renting a house.. a house that has become our home. We have a backyard, and a dog who has made me feel safe when Jon has been traveling, and who does keep us on our toes. Ezzie's room may be a baby room/office, but it feels warm. I love the starry fabric hanging across the ceiling above his bed, and the suggestion of my friend Esther to put twinkle lights between the ceiling and the fabric to make it even more starry :)

I love how God has blessed us with the means to get things just at the right time. For example, I was in Target and browsing through the baby clearance isle. I found a bed skirt for his crib for a couple of bucks that matched the quilt I was making him. A couple of months later, there was a crib set for more then 75% off.. and a steal.. that was really cute, and surprisingly matched the bed skirt.

I have been able to find the time to complete the quilt I began making for Ezzie before he is born, and he fills my heart with joy everytime he begins staring and smiling at it. The colors really capture his attention - something I hoped to do with the quilt :)

I love that we had a free turkey for Easter that we could share with our friends. I love having people over and making them feel welcomed. We just added a recliner to our living room, compliments of our friends, and this has helped to add more seating and make the living room look more "homey."

We recently were able to get a trailer for our bikes that Ezzie can ride in... this has helped us to find another way we can enjoy the outdoors (even with the humidity and mosquitos) with Ezzie.

Our little boy is healthy - and I love getting to know him... what he likes, dislikes, what makes him smile, laugh, and what draws his eye.

The herbs I planted are actually growing, and we may get some fresh greens here to spruce up our meals.

There are so many little things I am sure I miss in the day, and I am so grateful for God's provision for what we need, and His help in being content with all He has given us and allowed us to give to others.

4 Months!!!!

So, our little guy turned 4 months! He is growing so fast, and learning quickly too! We have had some fun "firsts" this month. Ezzie laughed for the first time, began eating solid foods, went on his first bike ride, is holding things on purpose!, and is pulling himself up into a sitting position little by little! It is all very exciting :) Right now he is 13 pounds, 6.5 ounces. He is nearing double his birth weight (which will be 14lb, 2oz). We love getting to know our son. Right now he seems to prefer "seeing" us to "hearing" us. If he can't see us, even if he hears us, he usually will begin fussing until he can see our faces. He also loves bright colors, and stares at our airplane pillow cases, and the quilt mommy made for him. He fills our hearts with joy with his smiles, squeaks, and facial expressions :) Plus, he also just made it 10 hours without a feeding last night!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful day celebrating the Lord's resurrection today. We spent time with other believers at church eating and then celebrating life and hope. Jon and I then had friends over for a feast later in the day. Jon and I made a turkey for the first time! It was edible and actually ok :) We had such a great time just talking and laughing with our friends. They say laughter is good for the soul - it was good for mine today :)

I was reminded of the healing God has done in my life, His power, and the hope I continue to hold onto... as time and time again I see His faithfulness. While I seek God each day, it is refreshing and encouraging to remember Christ's sacrifice that has brought life and hope into this world. We are so blessed to be surrounded by a community of friends, and even moreso to be able to see the work of Christ in their lives and our own. Sometimes it is easy for me to struggle with my faith - especially since God is not a tangeable human person who I can sit and talk with. However, I am reminded again that He has walked on this earth, and even though He may not be able to come and talk with me and give me a hug, I see His hand continually in the world around me. The beauty of truth to me is that there is nothing that can make it become un-truth. Even when my questioning becomes the strongest, God answers my need of assurance through revealing Himself through people, nature, or even an inner peace and insight into my own life and who He is.

Today was a special gift.

Auntie Julie and Uncle Russell Visit!

We had a great visit with Jon's sister and brother-in-law. We spent most of our time around Longview, but did take a small trip to a little tourist town called Jefferson. On our way we stopped at a historical marker in Harleton. Why is this important? Well, only 2 days after they left we had a tornado watch because a tornado had touched down - guess where? In Harleton.. and itty bitty little thing that only has a plaque to its name.

Ezzie loved meeting his auntie and uncle. His favorite thing to do was listen to his Auntie Julie talk to him about Oxford, college, and read Shakespeare, to name a few topics and things. He also had to have her finger in his mouth! Our little guy is teething, and loved her finger specifically :)

One thing that Jon loved doing while they were here was watch "Warbirds." This is a movie that I just shook my head about when we'd go to the movie rental store. Long story short - it is a movie about a group of female pilots in WWII who crash on an island infested with Japanese troops and dinosaurs. They kill the dinosaurs. Julie and Russell, more specifically Russell, took the time to watch this with Jon :)

Learning to sit up and use those legs!

"Boppin" in his Boppy - gotta love the spitup in the last pic :)

So, we have begun to encourage Ezzie in building his muscles to sit on his own! Boppies are one of the best inventions and really helpful when trying to let a little guy learn to sit without him plowing his head into the floor :) Though Ezzie is not quite able to sit on his own yet, he is getting better, and is discovering a whole new take on the world!


I discovered the jumperoo online a week ago, read all the reviews, and had to get one for Ezzie! (I think I may be more excited about his new toy than he is!) We tried it out last night for the first time and once he understood that he could bounce by using his legs he loved it!